Those Who Do Not Learn From History
by Brooklyn Royalz
Summary: Set during the ending where Clementine spares Kenny and refuses to enter Wellington without him. Takes place around three years after the initial outbreak. Enjoy! (NOTE: I do not own The Walking Dead or any characters from it). Next Chapter Due: 11/17/2014
1. Chapter 1

Three years. It's been three years since all of this started. To think I used to joke about it happening. I guess it isn't as funny now, right?

It was like every other shift on the watch tower. Matt, one of my best friends, and I were on for the next few hours, watching for danger around our camp. A few Z's here and there, nothing too out of the ordinary. Every day was pretty much the same. Every so often we'd have to deal with a Z or two that got too close to the walls. Today was no different, until we heard a rustling in the woods. It wasn't loud enough to be a Z, so we drew our guns and aimed.

"Who's there?" I called out. "We can hear you!"

No response. I look to Matt, who seems just about confused as I was.

"Don't shoot!" The man who called out had a noticeable southern accent. He walked out of the bush, baby in his arms. "We don't mean any harm!"

I still had my gun drawn. I wasn't taking any chances, as I knew some people weren't as nice as they seemed.

"Look out behind you!" Matt screamed. "There's something coming out of the bush!"

I saw the movement as well, and just as the figure emerged I fired a shot.

"Jesus Christ! CLEM!" He looked at me, then the baby in his arms, which had started crying, and then at the bush. "What the hell did you do that for!" The man yelled as he ran towards the body. He was visibly shaken up and was extremely worried now. He looked back at us a second time and said, "Please, help us!"

My heart started racing. I looked at Matt, and he was even more shocked than I was.

"What are you talking about?" I yelled back at him. Just as I did so, I saw what I had shot at. It was a young girl. Couldn't have been any older than I was, probably younger. "Oh no..."

_"God dammit, not again.." _I said to myself. "_I have to help them._"

I didn't think twice before jumping down off the tower. With the adrenaline running through me I didn't feel the impact from the 30 foot drop.

"Matt! Get the gates open. NOW." I told him. As soon as I did, he nodded in agreement and ran down the stairs.

At this point I was running towards the pair to help, when the man aimed his gun at me.

"You son of a -" he started, but I interrupted him before he could shoot.

I picked the girl up, tearing up. "N-not now...Please. I want...I want to help. I'm sorry." I said to him. I couldn't turn to face the man, instead focusing on the girl I had shot. The pained look on her face and the sound of her crying was enough to push me over the edge and start crying myself. I started jogging back to the gate. It was just opening as I reached it, and had to slow down to explain to the man.

I inhaled deeply, trying to hide the fact I was crying, but it was no use. Through some tears, I managed to say to him,

"I'm going to help you both. Follow close behind and don't mind the others."

The gate was finally open, and as I started walking in, I saw the man slowly follow behind me.


	2. Chapter 2

The gates opened and headed right towards Brian, a member of our camp. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. I could tell he didn't know what to make of the situation, or the man behind me.

"Brian," I said, with a lump still in my throat. "No time to explain. Get my dad. Now. Send him over to the medcenter." I started picking up the pace again and concentrated on getting to the big tent.

The walk was short, but it felt like so much longer looking at this poor girl's face. It looked like she'd passed out from shock. I couldn't stop looking down at her. Even unconscious, she had a pained look on her face. Even worse, I could feel the man with the baby staring right at me the whole time. No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn't turn to look him in the eye. That was another thing. I don't know what happened to him, and I knew I couldn't ask him, but he had gauze wrapping over his eye. I knew all of the members of the group were looking at us for the short time we were in the open.

When we reached the tent, Tony and Peter, the guards in front (stationed there for obvious reasons, we can't always save everyone in there and sometimes they...they turn) immediately stopped the man.

"Sorry man, I can't let you in." Tony said. He put his gun up to show he wasn't allowed inside.

"What? What the hell do you mean 'You can't let me in?' I'm not gonna let you just-" He started, before I interrupted.

I was still teary eyed, which must've caught everyone off guard, including him. "Tony, Peter, l-let him in. Go get my dad and Pat. Now." They each took a step to the side and held the curtain open for us. I walked straight into the left room, which was just cleaned out earlier. I put the girl on the first cot and opened up a first aid kit. Looking at the man, He was sitting down with his head in his free hand. As I was preparing a cloth to clean the wound with, I had to try to talk to this man.

"Sir, I know this isn't the best time but-" I started to say. I had just applied pressure when the girl started screaming in pain. The man ran over and looked at her worriedly. "She's...she's alright," I told him. "It's only the alcohol on the pad."

"You sure you know what you're doing?" He asked me, rather nastily. "Because I swear if she's not okay I'll make sure you're not either." He stood up and looked down at me.

I couldn't believe this. I was doing my best to help him, and yet this is how I get treated? Sure, I had shot his daughter or whatever she was to him, but I didn't know.

"Please, mister. I'm sorry I shot your daughter-"

"She's not my daughter! She's..." he said, unable to finish his sentence. He trailed off mid sentence, putting his head back into his hand. I guess I forgot to notice the baby was still crying, because I was too busy thinking. I felt bad. Not just because I shot someone, not just because she was a little girl, but because I did it again. I was about to say something else when my dad and Pat came in, along with my mother and Matt.

"Where is she?" My dad asked. "What happened?"

I guess he was able to tell just by the look on my face.

Pat spoke up this time. "Shane...are you..?"

"Can we finish this later? This little girl needs help. NOW." The man said.

Everyone looked offended at what he said, but I had to agree with him.

"Guys, c-can you just help us?" I was still crying a little and wasn't able to speak clearly. They looked at each other and nodded.

"Okay, let's see what we can do." My dad said. "But I'll need you to step out of the room...Mister...?"

"Kenny. My name's Kenny," he said. He sounded much less angry but was more shaken. "That's C-clementine over there on the bed, and this is Alvin Jr." He lifted the baby slightly up. "I'm sorry, I can't leave. Not after this." After saying this, he sounded angry again

My mom and dad glanced over at each other and used what seemed like telepathy to agree.

"I'm very sorry Mister Kenny, but we can't do anything with you here. It's too hard for us." My mom said, hoping to calm him down more.

All of a sudden, Clementine, the little girl, woke up. Her voice was weak, and she sounded very strained.

"Please Kenny...just let...let them work.." She sounded like she wanted to say more but passed out. This sent my parents into red alert mode.

"We need to hurry! She's bleeding heavily. We need you to leave, Kenny." Pat said. "Matt, go get the bandages in the other room."

My mother hurried Kenny and the baby out of the room, trying to distract him and calm the baby down along with him.

As my dad starting working on stopping the bleeding, Pat pulled me aside.

"Shane... what happened? Are you okay?" He asked me. "Don't give me too long of an answer, your dad needs my help."

Pat was one of my father's best friends before this happened. Him, my mom and dad all met when they worked at the hospital. Aside from my family, Matt and him were the people I trusted above all. I knew I could tell him anything and he could try to help me.

"I...I did it again." I started tearing up again. "She was in the bushes...and I didn't know it was a little girl. I thought she was a Z..just like last time.."

He looked around for a second, trying to think of what to say, but I could tell he wasn't able to think of the right thing.

"Shane, that wasn't your fault...you didn't know this time and you didn't know last time." He started to say.

"It's fine Pat. It's, um, fine. Let's just help my Dad." I said, trying to change the subject.

We walked back over to my dad. He was concentrating on trying to stop any further bleeding, when he turned around and looked at us.

"Sean, go help Matt find those bandages. If she loses any more blood she won't make it." He said this while sighing and shaking his head, and turned back to try to save the girl's life. I turned around to help find the bandages but Pat put his hand and my shoulder and shook his head.

"I'll go help him. You stay here." He said, as he patted my shoulder and walked away.

I was about to ask my dad what I could do when I looked at the girl. She was pale, and she still had a pained look on her face. I couldn't come to terms with the fact I had done this to someone who probably needed help.


	3. Chapter 3

"Dad, is...is there anything I can do?" I asked him. I didn't even try to hide the fact I was on the verge of tears (yet again). It took him a minute but he finally responded.

"Yeah, there is." He said without looking up. He pointed over to the medical desk in the corner of the tent room. "I need you to get the hand cleaner and a new pair of gloves.

I went over and unlocked the desk. I opened the top drawer, but didn't find anything of use. Same with the second and third drawer, both filled with medical supplies but nothing I could use. The final drawer was luckily the right one. I saw the rubbing alcohol and the box of gloves. Just then, Pat walked back in followed by Matt. They handed my dad the bandages and waited for him to tell them what to do. I headed over to them and handed my dad the supplies.

"Here you go, dad." I said as I handed it to him.

"Thanks Shane." He said, cleaning his hands and putting on the gloves. "I'd suggest you guys do the same."

All of a sudden, my dad looked startled.

"Guys, her body's shock. We need to get the sweater off of her, now. Pat, can you go get a blanket? She's getting cold." He looked at me uncomfortably before saying

"And Shane...do you think you can get her sweater off? I took her jacket off but that sweater seems like it's too tight right now." I shuffled a bit, but after a moment of thought I knew I had to.

"Sure dad." I went closer to the bed and put on a pair of gloves. I had a cut on my hand, and didn't want to risk getting any blood in there.

_"Please be wearing another shirt..." _I thought to myself. Much to my relief, she was. I pulled it off carefully to prevent any extra injury.

I saw another wound on her shoulder, and pointed to it. "Dad, is that...uh, from me? I only remember shooting once."

He glanced over, and his eyes widened.

"That looks like it could get real bad if not taken care of." he said. "It can't be from you though, she wouldn't have made it if it was. Hand me the peroxide. Her stomach's taken care of for now but that needs to be cleaned." He yet again changed his gloves, and I handed him the peroxide. He put some on a cloth and cleaned the wound. I half expected her to wake up and scream, but she didn't.

"Sorry it took so long, I had to run over to my house." Pat said, as he returned from the room. "Is she doing any better?"

My dad looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and didn't reply.

"Ah. I see." Pat replied. He came over, and noticed the second wound. "Shane, did you...?"

I was offended at first, but knew he had good reason to think what he did. "No, Pat. I didn't." I immediately felt bad for the way I had said that, as it was uncalled for.

"Just wanted to see, I guess." He said, quietly.

My dad had just finished cleaning both wounds, and pulled out the stitching needle.

"This is it, guys. All I could have done, I've done. We'll see how it goes from here."

After he was done stitching her up, Pat covered her with the blanket to keep her warm, due to shock. On the bed across the room, Matt woke up. I had forgotten that he went to sleep a while ago.

"What's going on?" He asked, stretching and yawning.

"She's uh, just resting now." Pat answered. I guess we'll get Tony and Pete to watch over here and make sure she doesn'-"

"No. I'll stay here until she wakes up." I said. I made sure they knew nothing would be able to change my mind. "I've...I've got a gun. You know...just in case."

They didn't say anything, but they nodded in agreement. They remained in the room for a bit, with an awkward silence in the air.

"I'll see you guys soon." I said, as I pulled a stool over next to the bed she was on. I sighed, and sat there for a few minutes. I kept thinking over what I had done. It wasn't easy doing this once, but twice? I couldn't believe it happened.

"Clem...clementine...that's your name, right? Clementine? I'm sorry I did this. I would have never done this if I knew you weren't a Z in those bushes. But don't worry, Clementine, we'll help you get better. I won't let anything else happen to you here. I may have just met you but I'm gonna do everything I can for you. It's the least I can do." I didn't know if she could hear me, but I had to say it. I was tired. Very tired, and stressed out from this whole ordeal. But I knew I couldn't go to sleep. I had to stay awake, and be on my guard. Soon after though, I put my head down on the bed, and fell alseep.


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on, Shane! They're right behind us!" Stan yelled.

"Oh Jesus, they got Tommy!" Rebecca sobbed.

We just escaped a horde of Zs, and I tripped and fell. I must've hit my head pretty hard, because I only remember my friends dragging my semi-conscious body behind them, trying to save me. It wasn't long before we found a good spot to hide. They set me down and tried to bring me back out of my dazed state.

"C'mon, Shane! God dammit, don't do this to us..." Matt said.

I shook my head to show I was alright. "I'm fine, man...I'm...I'm fine. Who else uh...who else is still out there?" I tried standing up, but I fell over again.

"Shane!" Stan said, as he ran over to help me.

"Well," Matt started. "Rebecca and Stan found their way here, but, " he took a deep breath. "Tommy didn't make it with them. He fell and they got him."

"What about William?"I asked.

Matt shook his head. "I think he was the one that alerted the horde."

"Jay?"

He shook his head again. "He got ambushed by a Z on the way here."

My heart sank as I prepared for this next answer.

"...Taylor?"

The group around me exchanged nervous looks before Rebecca, one of her best friends said something.

"I saw her run off in the other direction when the horde heard us." She answered, with her head down.

It took me a minute before I could even think to say anything. "We have to find her. You know that, and so do I."

She may have been our friend, but everyone else was so shaken up that they didn't seem that up to it.

"Shane, I don't know if she-" Will said, before stopping mid-sentence.

"Listen Will, her parents are gonna be devastated if we go back without her. Imagine what they'll feel if they know we didn't even try to find her? Imagine what our parents will think of us!" I said, hoping to motivate them. "I know we're not in the best shape."

_"I should know," _I thought to myself. _"I still can barely stand."_

"He's right, you guys." Rebecca agreed. "She's my best friend, and I have to look for her. It's the least I can do."

They all looked at each other and nodded. Matt helped me up, and continued to help me walk. It wasn't too long before we heard a scream, which sounded a lot like Taylor's. We all jumped a little bit, and basically started running at that point. We all started screaming her name in hopes of finding her faster.

"Taylor?"

"Taylor! Are you there?"

I was about to try to call out until we heard gunshots. It was silent for a while, and we were all worried sick. I ran out ahead of them all and saw a few Z's dead on the ground, and followed the footsteps. I looked back and saw the others. I figured they'd be able to keep up with me, so I kept running.

I found an opening in the woods, and started calling out for someone.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

I heard rustling in the bushes behind me.

"Who's ther-" I started to say, but I heard loud rustling behind me. I turned around to look behind me, and saw the bushes moving.

I saw a figure begin to emerge from the bushes and without thinking, pulled the trigger.


	5. Chapter 5

_**BANG!**_

It must've been a pretty terrible dream, because when I woke up screaming. I guess I may have been crying a little too, since my eyes were tearing up. Kenny ran in from the other room with a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?" He asked, standing in the curtain door way. "Is Clem okay?"

I looked around the room, still in a state of shock from the dream.

Breathing heavily and eyes wide open, I realized I didn't know the right answer. I quickly turned to her, still laying on the bed. She was breathing, but still out cold.

"Yes sir...I..think so..." I said. "She's resting now. She should be fine soon."

I could tell he wasn't confident in my answer. He looked at me, and where I was sitting.

"You sure about that, kid? What're you doing sitting so close to her bed?" He was starting to move closer to me. I guess now that he didn't have the baby with him, he wasn't afraid to

"I'm sorry sir, but I fell asleep here. You know, when I was trying to save her life?" I knew that wasn't the best way to answer. He seemed like the type of person to take being talked to like that.

"I'm sorry, sir. It's just...this isn't easy for me." I said, hoping he wouldn't be too mad.

"Isn't easy for you? Isn't easy for you?" He said, quite angrily now. "You think it's easy for me? You don't even know us, how could this be hard on you!"

I put my head into my palm. I couldn't blame him for being so upset; I knew I'd be just as mad if someone else did something like this to me.

"I understand, sir." I responded.

Just then, Tony and Peter ran in with their guns drawn. They must've heard the screaming, and ran down to make sure nothing bad happened.

"What's going on in here?" Peter asked. "Is everyone okay?"

They looked at Kenny, and then me. They didn't look too happy with him. While I wasn't as good as friends with them as I was Matt, they seemed to be genuinely concerned for me and other people. Tony walked over to me along with Peter.

"You okay Shane?" Tony said, as he knelt down next to my chair.

"Yeah, Tony. I'm fine. Thanks for asking." I said to him, wiping my eyes.

"Listen, Kenny, was it? I think you need to leave for a bit. Let's go talk to Joesph (my father) about a place for you to stay. It's probably not the best idea for you to stay in here, it being a medical tent and all." Peter said, trying to get him away from here to calm down a bit.

Kenny walked up to him, and got in his face.

"If you think I'm gonna listen to anything you tell me to do," Kenny started.

Kenny may have seemed tough, but Peter and Tony were our guards for a reason. You may not be able to tell just by looking at them, but they're tougher than most of the people I've ever met.

"Listen, man. I get it. You think you're gonna scare us. Well guess what? I'm trying to be nice. I really am, so really. Let's just go see Joesph, alright? All I've got to do and say one word, and you're out of here." Peter snapped.

The atmosphere in the room was tense. You could slice through it. Peter and Kenny stared at each other for a while, before Kenny looked over at Clementine.

"Alright." Kenny said, still looking over at her. "Sorry, man."

That caught me off guard. He didn't seem like the type of guy to just apologize like that. It must've been Clementine. He must've been thinking about what was best for her, and trying to keep her safe. Peter nodded back to him and motioned for him to follow him. Tony stayed behind, though.

"You sure keeping him around is the best idea, Shane?" Tony asked, standing up. "He seems like he's...an angry guy."

I was about to answer, but I had to think. "To be honest Tony, I don't think so. But I can't stop thinking that he's only like that because he wants to protect her."

Tony seemed to agree. "I think you're right, Shane." He got up, and headed towards the door. "Come on, Stan and Jim want to see you."

Shaking my head, I replied "Nah, no thanks Tony. I feel like I have to stay here."

"Up to you, I guess. See you around, Shane." He answered, walking out the door.

I turned to face her bed. I looked at her stomach, and then at her shoulder.

_"I couldn't __have..."_

It probably wasn't the best idea for me to think about it, but it was hard not to. I decided to lay my head down on the bed and try to get some sleep again.

Around 15 minutes passed before I fell asleep. It was horrible, though. I couldn't go what felt let seconds without waking up sweating. Every time, it was the same nightmare.

_"Taylor?"_

_"Taylor! Are you there?"_

I eventually gave up on trying to sleep, and pulled the chair back a little from the bed. I sat back a little, and thought about things for a while. I looked at my watch (surprisingly,it still worked), and saw it was almost 11:00 at night. I couldn't believe it. I'd been sitting in this room for nearly two days. I wanted to get up and go out, but couldn't bring myself to leave without making sure Clementine was alright.


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up at around 5:30 (as was normal for us in the town; that was when we had to start our shift rotations for our jobs). My father came in, just as my body was adjusting to being awake.

"You awake, Shane?" my dad asked. "It's time for work. I know you feel like you have to stay here next to her but I can't let you off of work for another day in a row."

I understood where he was coming from. The camp always came first, and I know that I had to do as my dad said. In fact, the only time I'd left the tent since the day I shot her. I had been in here, all alone with Clementine (save for when Kenny came to check on her and when my dad had to change her bandages and give her water) for the past three days. For those three days, though, people had to cover my shifts on the tower, and most of the time it was people who weren't on for work that day.

"Dad, I get it. I know I need to do my part around here. But you don't understand... I have to stay here. It's the least I can do, I mean, I nearly killed her! I can't leave now. Please, dad. Let me stay here. I'm begging you." I replied to him.

"Shane, you know I can't just let you take another day off. I'll talk to Bradley, and see if he could take your shift on the tower again. But you owe him big time, okay?" He said.

I smiled a little. "Thanks, dad."

"I'd say it's no big deal, but we both know it is." He pointed at Clementine on the bed. "Make sure you give her water. She's still a bit dehydrated,. I'll come in later and check on you." With that said, he headed out to start his day of work.

I sat back, still pretty tired. I looked on the floor next to me, and saw my pistol (there for obvious reasons). Just in case, I grabbed it and put it in my lap with my hand. For the next half an hour, I did the same thing I did when I was sitting here. I thought about things. Things like how different the world is now, how different my friends and family are. Things like Clementine...things like how I did it again. All the while, I couldn't stop looking at Clementine on the cot. there was a gunshot. Then another. Then a lot more. No less than a minute later, though, Pat's daughter Emma ran in to the tent.

"Shane," she started to say. "There's a problem. A big problem. It's a horde, right outside the walls. We need your help, there's too many for everyone in the towers to handle!"

It was hard for me to even think about leaving the tent and Clementine alone, but I knew what I had to do.

"Alright, Emma. I'll be right out. Go find the others, and go someplace safe." I said to her, getting up and putting my hand on her shoulder.

Holding my pistol, I ran outside. Looking around, I saw a few people at the gate. They were trying to barricade and reinforce it, and on the other side I saw a good 400 Z's trying to get through the gate and around the walls.

"_Oh my god..." _I said to myself. "_Where do that many of them even come from?_"

Before anything, I knew just a pistol wasn't going to help for long. I had to run to the armory and hope there were still enough weapons for me and to hand out to anyone else. On the way over, I stopped at the housing section of the camp and called for any survivors.

"Hello! Anyone, are you there?" I yelled out.

I saw my mother, Emma, Rebecca and most of the other survivors of the camp. There was only one person I didn't see though... Kenny.

"Mom! Is everyone okay?" I asked her as I quickly ran over to her.

"Shane! Thank god you're okay. We're all okay over here, don't worry." She assured me.

"Uh, mom...where are Kenny and the baby he has with him?" I questioned, suspicious of him.

Just by the look on her face, I could tell she anticipated the question.

"Kenny's up with Bradley and Matthew, Shane. Why, don't you trust he'd help us?" she replied. "And as for the baby..." She stepped out of the way, to reveal Erin, Pat's other daughter and Emma's older sister, holding the baby. "Erin's got her, don't worry."

I looked at her holding the baby, and sighed. She smiled at me, and I smiled back. "Good. Are any of you up to helping the rest of us? There's at least 400 Z's in front of the camp alone. Not to scare you, but that's quite a lot of them." I scanned the small crowd for anybody willing to, but as I expected, it didn't look like anyone wanted to. "That's fine. We've dealt with things like this before, don't worry." I remembered that I had left Clementine all alone, so I motioned for Rebecca to come over to me.

"Rebecca, can I ask a favor of you?" I asked her.

"Um, sure Shane, what is it?" She answered. Rebecca was my friend, but with the events that have been going on since I accidentally shot Clementine (even before then, there had been so much to do I hadn't been able to talk to many of my friends, her included.

"I know it's best you stay with the others, you know, 'safety in numbers' and everything, but I need you to watch Clementine for me. I only left her alone to help keep everyone else safe."

She looked confused. "Clementine?"

I forgot that nobody really knew her name aside from whoever was in the tent that night.

"The uh...girl I shot..." It was still painful to even say. I almost teared up but remembered there was more important things to worry about right now.

"Shane...I'm..I'm so sorry..are you okay?" She asked me. Like I said, Rebecca was a good friend of mine. She was there when this happened the first time.

"To be honest, no. But please, can you just watch her? Make sure nothing happens to her?" I pleaded, trying to get an answer as fast as I could.

"Of course. She's in the med tent, right?" She responded.

I nodded. "Yep. Here, take this, you may need it." I handed her my pistol. And with that, I sprinted over to the armory.

We called it the armory, but it was really just the sporting goods section with the shelves gutted to make room for more weapons and gear.

"Alright, Shane. I suppose you want a bag for all the guns?" Peter asked.

"Peter? What are you doing here?" I questioned, shocked he wasn't in on the action.

He lifted up his leg. "Fell off the tower and landed on it wrong. I'll be fine, just not fit for work right now." He explained.

"Ah. That's good, at least it's nothing too serious." I said back to him.

"Here. I had a feeling you'd stop by." He said as he handed me a large, heavy bag. "Careful with that now, it's full of ammo and some rifles. Oh, and uh, here." He handed me a black bag. "It's your personal one. I only had enough time to load a mag or two, so be careful."

I knew I had to get back to the towers real fast, so I thanked him quickly and ran out the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Gun bags in hand, I had to get to the front two towers. I'd been tuning it out when I was talking to everyone, but now that I was focusing on the safety of the camp I was hearing the gunshots loud and clear. As I neared the left tower, screams were also audible. Nobody was hurt but the screams were not of pain, but orders being screamed out.

"...Jesus Christ! On the left, trying to..."

"Near the gate! Keep 'em away from the gate!"

I climbed the ladder to the tower and saw Stan, Pat, Mike and my cousin Chris.

"Guys!" I yelled out. "Take a gun, and a box of ammo each. I gotta get over to the other tower and help from there!"

"Thanks, Shane." Pat said as he handed his partners the supplies. "Be safe getting over there."

"I will Pat. Good luck, you guys." I said as I practically jumped down the ladder back to the ground.

On my way over to the other tower, the members at the gate were screaming for help. It appeared that one of the Z's on the other side of the gate had had grabbed one of them. I had to help, and ran over as fast as I could. Shooting a gun at the gate could be dangerous, as it could cause a swarm, but it had to be done. I assisted them in pushing objects into the way of the gate to hold the Z's back.

"Get your head down, I'm gonna shoot it!" I screamed to the woman being grabbed, which I didn't realize was Rebecca's mother.

She complied and ducked down as I fired the gun. The Z let go and dropped dead, and Rebecca's mom ran over to me and hugged me.

"Thank you Shane, you saved my life!"

I hugged her with one hand, and told her: "It's nothing. I couldn't just let you die. Run back to the housing section, you need a break."

As she ran back, I finally could get to the tower. I knew Matt and Bradley were up there, but I heard two other voices. I scrambled up the ladder and dropped both bags on the floor. Startled by the sound, they all turned around. As I predicted, Matt and Bradley were up here, but to my slight surprise, so was Kenny.

"Guys, guns and ammo here. Take what you need." I said as I unzipped my gun bag. It was a beautiful gun, this rifle. My grandfather gave it to me a few years before this started.

"Thanks Shane. We were running low up here." Matt said.

"Yeah, thanks man." Bradley said.

"Listen, Brad, I'm sorry you had to cover me again." I said, apologizing.

"Not the time, Shane." He replied in between shots. "But it's not too big a deal, I know you did what you had to do. What matters now is that you're here to help us."

I looked at him, and nodded quickly. "Kenny, thank you for helping us in our time of need."

He looked back at me real quick, and shook his head. "Believe me, if it weren't for Clem and AJ, I wouldn't be up here helping you."

I rolled my eyes, knowing he wasn't kidding. "Whatever. You're still here, and that's helping us immensely."

For the next 15 minutes, I sat here burning through ammo shooting at the Z's down below. I couldn't believe the sheer number of them outside the gates. Luckily, they were close enough where the rifle was dead accurate and I rarely missed a shot.

"_This would be so much easier with more people." _I thought to myself. I looked over at Kenny. _"He's not a bad shot. Sure am glad he's on our side, even if it is temporary."_

Ammo was now a limited resource, seeing as there were no factories or suppliers to make it. Unfortunately, there were just so many of them there was no other way to deal with this. It was another 30 minutes before the numbers in the horde would thin out. When it did, though, I had an idea.

"Guys! Stop shooting, I have an idea!" I yelled to my towermates first, and then screamed with all that I had in me to the other tower across from us. "There's not a whole lot of them, if we could use something other than guns it'd be more efficient for the camp!"

"Like what?" I heard Chris yell back. I looked down at the gate, and saw that the survivors had a lot of saws and other sharp objects there were using to reinforce the gate.

"The tools near the gate! If we can all stick together we'll be safe. Meet me down there, but have someone stay up there to give us covering fire if we need it."

I chose to have Matt stay up there, since maybe aside from me, he was the best shot. Chris had Mike stay behind, and the rest of us grabbed a weapon. Through the gate, I had counted at least 35 Z's still left.

"There's still 40ish out there, and only 4 of us down here. Everyone ready?" I asked, hoping to rile everyone up. "I hope so. Stan! Open the gate!"

He did, and we ran out. We ran faster than anyone should be able to. Armed with only a sledgehammer, I had no choice but to hope they came at me one at a time.


	8. Chapter 8

What happened next was a hazy memory. I remember hearing the impact of blunt objects on Z skulls, and a lot of orders being barked out. It was going well, maybe a Z or two left for me to take out, when I was jumped on by a Z.

"Oh Jesus! HELP ME, SOMEBODY!" I screamed. I didn't know if anyone could hear me. Luckily, the front of the camp was clear of all foliage, so it wasn't hard to spot me. This particular Z was a large, heavy one. I couldn't force him off of me, but was able to hold him away from my body for a short time. I kept screaming for help, and heard someone coming over to me. I also heard a loud grunt followed by the sound of a cracking skull, and all of a sudden the Z on top of me was dead on the ground next to me.

"Thanks, man..." I started to say, as I got up. I was shocked to see that it wasn't Stan, or Chris, or anyone I had expected for that matter, but it was Kenny. "Kenny?"

"Save it, kid. Get up, they're all gone." He said, extending his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. As soon as I was on my feet, a Z grabbed him from behind.

"Holy hell! Get it off of me!" He pleaded, struggling to keep it away from his neck.

I was about to pick up my hammer when I heard a shot from the tower. The Z let go, and Kenny stumbled forward a little.

"Phew, that was...that was close..." He said.

"You okay? You didn't...get bit did you?" I asked him carefully.

He shook his head, and pointed at the gates. "Nah, I don't think so. Let's just uh, get back behind that gate."

We all grouped up in front of the gate as it opened. When it did, we walked inside. I was greeted by the rest of my family, and my friends. They must've seen through the gate that I was almost killed, so they all were extremely happy I was okay. I couldn't count the amount of times I was asked if I'm okay, so I was about to say something, until I was hugged by somebody.

"Shane! I'm so glad you're okay!" I looked down and saw it was Erin, and she was in tears. I hugged her back with one arm, the other still on the hammer, and looked over to Kenny.

"Everyone, if not for Kenny, you wouldn't be so happy. He saved my life. And Kenny, I'm sorry I distrusted you before." I said to them. I dropped the hammer and put both arms around Erin, but then let go.

I put my hands on her shoulders, and nodded down to her. I talked to everyone shortly, and then went back to the tower to get the bag and remaining ammo to return to Peter. I climbed to the tower and saw Matt sitting down.

"You okay man?" I asked him. He looked dazed.

"Fine. It's just...I...I didn't know if I could make that shot. I didn't know if I'd hit Kenny on accident." He replied.

I started packing up the bag. "Don't get so worked up over it, Matt. You saved him, and although he sure as hell doesn't want to show it, you know he's happy you did." I told him, trying to ease the situation. "I gotta go get the guns from Mike's tower and bring em back to Peter. I'll be in the med tent if you need me, man." I said, starting to climb down the ladder. Again, I walked over to the tower, and climbed up the ladder.

"Hey Mike, thanks for the cover." I said sarcastically, but jokingly.

"Man, screw you. You know damn well I couldn't see ya." He answered back while laughing. "Here, take this back to the armory too." He handed me his rifle. "I'm off tomorrow so I'll get it in a day or two."

"No problem, Mike. Take it easy, man." I said back, climbing down the ladder.

The armory, luckily, was close to the medical tent, so it wasn't too far of a walk. I opened the door, and saw Peter counting the weapons on the wall.

"Everything go alright?" He asked, looking over his shoulder.

"A little less than perfect, but otherwise okay. Here's the bags. Thanks again, by the way, we needed this extra help." I told him, putting the bags on the counter next to him. "I've got to get over to the med tent, so I'll talk later."

"See ya, Shane." He said, turning around again to keep counting the guns. I walked out the door, and continued on my way to get back to Clementine.

I was jogging a bit, but in a rush, I threw the curtain doors of the tent to the side to open them. I must've been pretty loud, because Rebecca jumped and pointed the gun at me.

"Holy crap!" I said, ducking down. "Rebecca, it's just me!"

She lowered the gun. "Oh, thank god. Sorry, didn't know what to expect. You were gone for so long..."

"I'm here now. You may want to go see your mother. She got grabbed by a Z earlier. No bite, but she looked pretty scared." I told her.

"What? Is she okay?" She asked me, obviously worried. "Here, by the way." She handed me the gun back.

"_That would have been really helpful earlier." _I thought. But instead, I said:

"Don't worry. We checked her for bites, don't worry. Just go see her." I told her, reassuring her.

She ran out, headed straight for the housing. I walked over to Clementine's bed, and pulled over the chair again.


	9. Chapter 9

I looked at the poor little girl on the bed.

_"She's either in a coma or dead, to be able to sleep through all of that_." I thought to myself.

I pulled the chair closer to her bed, and relaxed a little. My dad walked in almost immediately after, with Pat right behind him.

"Shane! Oh my god, are you okay?" He asked me, running to me.

"I'm fine, dad. Where were you?" I asked him. I hadn't seen him all day.

"In here, with Rebecca. We were taking care of your friend here." He replied.

"Is she doing any better? Any idea when she's gonna wake up?" I questioned again.

"She's as better as she's gonna get. She's not bleeding any more, and it seems she replenished all of her blood. As to the latter question, I don't know, bud."

It hurt to hear it, but I didn't expect anything else.

"Oh...alright, dad. Thanks." I said, saddened.

"We're glad you're okay, Shane." Pat said to me. "Nice shooting, by the way." He said, probably trying to lighten the mood.

"Heh, thanks. You too." I responded.

They must've been able to tell I wanted to be alone, so they said goodbye and left the tent. That left me with time to go over the recent events again. I don't know why I do that, it brings back a lot of memories, many of them not exactly good. I blanked out for a minute, just looking at Clementine. Her nearly lifeless body laying there. Her expressionless face, but thankfully, she was breathing.

"Shane? You in here?"

I was startled out of my little mini-vacation from thought. I turned to see Erin, standing in the doorway.

"Yeah. I'm in here. You uh, need something?" I asked, stressed out from nearly being killed today. "Sorry, i'm just...a bit off."

She walked closer. "I wanted to make sure you were okay." She turned a little red, and her voice got a little quiet.

I smiled, happy that even in times like they are now, people could still be the way they used to be. I stood up, and went over to her.

"You want the truth, or do you want me to lie?" I asked her, jokingly.

She grabbed me tight, and hugged me. I didn't know what to say. She was Pat's daughter, but we only visited Pat and his family every so often before the outbreak. I never really got to know her well. I must've turned red too, because my face felt warm.

"Um...Erin, I..." I started to say.

She let go, and her face was red. "Sorry...I didn't mean to..."

I hugged her back quickly then let go. "It's fine. Erin." I smiled to her. That smile quickly turned to a frown, however. I looked back at the bed. I felt my eyes well up with tears, and she must've noticed.

"What's wrong, Shane?" She asked, looking up at me.

I sighed. "Have...have you ever heard the story, Erin? About what happened?"

She shook her head. "No...why?"

"I'd like to tell you. Just so you know why I'm being the way I am about this." I said, pulling over a chair.

That must've caught her off guard. I never told anybody aside from my parents and Pat, and I know Pat would never tell anyone if I didn't say he could.

"Um...are you sure you want to?" She asked me.

I slid another chair over to her. "Positive."

I started telling the story. "It...it was almost two years ago. Me, Matt, Stan, Rebecca and a few others went out on a hunting trip. It was going well, until we found a shack in the woods. Our friend Will... he opened the door. There was still an alarm on it, and well, it attracted a horde. A horde that very well could've been the one out there earlier. A Z jumped out of the door at him, and devoured him. We had to put him down. Stuff just hit the fan after that... hundreds of them came out of the woods." I said, holding back tears. "We didn't have much ammo. We weren't expecting this many, and we had to run. Unfortunately we got split up. I ran, and ran. I eventually caught up to a few of the others. We lost Will and Tommy... but didn't know where Taylor was." I had to pause again. "Do you remember taylor?" I asked her.

"I think so, she was Rebecca's best friend, right?" Erin replied. I was happy she actually at least pretended to care about this story.

"Yeah...she uh, was also, well...let's just say I liked her. A lot." I said this, and Erin actually looked a bit sad hearing it. "We followed her voice to a clearing, and I called for her. I was way ahead of the others, mind you. There were Z's all over the clearing, so I took care of them. I h-heard a noise in the bush." I had to take a deep breath to stop myself from breaking down and bawling my eyes out again. "Well... I thought she was one of them. I didn't think...and I pulled the trigger." At this point, I was crying a little. I could feel the tears rolling down my cheeks. I wiped my eyes and continued. "We were at least half a mile from the camp. She didn't make it. Because of me, she didn't get to make it home." I put my face into my hand, and shook my head. "I almost did it again with her." I said, pointing with my other hand to Clementine.

"Shane...I'm so sorry.." she said. "I can see why you're so upset, but it wasn't your faul-"

"No Erin, that's the thing. It was. I should have waited...until she was out of the bush..." I started crying again. I whispered to myself, "_Godammit, Taylor...I'm so sorry..."_

"Would you want to be alone, Shane? I understand if you do." Erin asked me.

I had gotten up to give Clementine water. "I don't mind if you-" I said, when while I was helping the unconscious girl drink the small amount of water, she started coughing. Her eyes opened, and she grabbed my shirt.

"Holy shit, she's awake!" I said in amazement. "Erin! Go get my Dad and Pat!"


	10. Chapter 10

I turned and bent down over her bed.

"Oh my god...you're okay!" I said, and without thinking, I hugged her in joy.

That probably wasn't the best idea, since she had no idea where she was, who I was, or what happened. I looked at her, and let her go.

"Hehe...sorry. I'm just really happy you're awake."

"What? What do you-" she started to say, before falling back down on to the bed. She clutched her stomach and had a pained expression on her face.

"Are you alright?" I asked, still worried.

She looked up at me with the "What happened?" look on her face.

"I'm surprised you don't remember. You were awake at first, after all."

Clementine tried to sit up again, and had to lean on one arm while still holding her stomach with the other. "How long have I been out?"

"Three days. Must be a pretty heavy sleeper, too. We had a bit of a Z problem outside the gates, and had to shoot at them. Shocked the gunshots or screaming didn't wake you up, actually."

I guess I shouldn't have assumed that she would know what a Z was. Judging by the look she gave me, she must've called them something else.

"What's a Z?" She asked me.

"One of those things. You know, the dead that won't stay dead." As soon as I finished the sentence, my father walked in with Pat and Kenny.

"Oh my god, Clem!" Kenny said, as he ran over to her.

"Kenny!" She responded to him, hugging him.

She let go of him, but then looked at all of us. "You never explained, what happened to me?"

Kenny began to say "Well this little-" but I cut him off.

Taking a deep breath, I answered her. "I shot you. You were coming out of the bushes, and I thought you were a Z."

"What the hell is a Z? You mean a walker?" Kenny said.

"I, uh, I guess. Is that what you call them?"My father answered.

Clementine nodded. "Have I really been out for 3 days?"

"Yep," I told her. I sat down in the chair, but pulled it away from the bed a little.

"You're lucky to be alive," Pat said. "It took us a while to stop the bleeding. We barely did it, to be honest.

It was at this point She felt her shoulder and the bandage underneath the jacket.

"It was pretty bad, that shot." My dad started. "It's a good thing we found it, otherwise it could've gotten infected."

"So that's it then? We can leave now?" Kenny asked angrily.

Pat shook his head. "You need to stay for a while, she's still not ready to go out there."

"What do you mean? You don't think she's able to handle herself?"

"He didn't mean that, Kenny." I said in defense of Pat. "That wound won't just heal quickly. It came close to killing her, she's gonna need more than a couple days for it to get much better. We've got enough supplies for you both. It's not a big deal, right dad?"

He nodded in agreement. "You've got a point, Shane. We have supplies to spare, and the room as well."

"Wait a minute," Clementine said. "Where's AJ?" She looked at Kenny worriedly.

"Oh don't worry about that, my daughter-" Pat began to answer, before Kenny interrupted him.

"Your daughter? You leave that baby in the hands of a little girl?"

I stood up and moved closer to Kenny.

"Excuse me, Kenny." I said, upset now. I looked over at Pat who looked like he wanted to say something but I motioned for him to go get her. "Listen. You may not trust her but believe me, the baby's in good hands. You may have saved my life, and really, you have no idea how grateful I am for that, but you need to calm it down. Aside from that moment all you've done is argue with people here and act like a jerk. I mean, again, I understand I shot Clementine here but you think I did it on purpose? No! So I honestly see no reason you need to be so hostile towards us. We're offering for you to stay here, and we could just as easily make you leave."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Clementine's eyes widen, as if I shouldn't have done what I just did.

"Why you little..." Kenny said, moving towards me and grabbing my shirt.

I lifted my gun and put it up against his stomach. I saw that Tony had walked in and aimed at him, along with my father.

"Think about this, Kenny." Tony said. "You try anything funny, and you'll be nothing but a memory."

"Stop!" Clementine yelled from her bed. "Don't fight, please!"

I looked over at her, and was the first to lower my aim. "I'm sorry. Both of you. I'm still stressed out over what happened."

Kenny still had his grip on my shirt, and my father and Tony still had their guns raised. He looked back at her, and finally let go of my shirt.

Pat walked in with Erin holding the baby.

"And you didn't trust her?" I snapped to Kenny. "Sorry. Again." I immediately followed up with, hoping to avoid any more hostilities for Clementine's sake.

"Here you go, sir." Erin said as she handed Kenny the baby.

"Thanks." Kenny said.

"Well, Kenny, come with Tony and I. We'll show you where you'll stay for the night, and tomorrow when Clementine there is feeling better, we'll find a better place."

_"Tomorrow?" _I thought to myself. I looked down at my watch and saw it was almost eight at night. "_Must be summer, sure is light outside for what time it is." _You lose track of time and seasons, living this way. Sure, the weather helps, but nobody really thinks about it anymore. No need to really. Just dress for the weather outside that day.

"I'll stay here with Clementine, make sure nothing happens." I said.

"Now hold on, there..." Kenny started to say again, acting extremely overprotective once more. I couldn't blame him, but I was getting annoyed that he really thinks I'd do anything to someone I nearly killed.

"Jesus, Kenny. Why would you think like that? I feel bad for what I caused and want to see it made better with my help."

"Yeah Kenny," Pat said to him. "He'll be fine. I know he won't do anything wrong."

It took them a minute but everyone left except for me, Erin and obviously, Clementine.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys! Sorry this chapter was a little late, I wasn't feeling great and forgot to upload anything. I hope you enjoy anyway!<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

There was an awkward silence in the room. It lasted for a minute or two when the adults left the room.

"Listen, Clementine. I'm sorry I did what I did."

No response. She was glaring at me, but in more of a melancholy way, rather than an angry way.

"I know you don't want to answer me, and you don't have to, but I didn't mean to do this."

She just nodded her head slowly to show she understood.

"Are you okay? You seem a bit...off..." I said to her, hoping to get her to speak. "I know you're not in the best shape right now but it seems different from that."

I got up and went closer to her. "Clementine?"

"It's just...I hate it when Kenny's like that." She said, sighing.

"Like what?" Erin said. "He was just being a good dad."

I wasn't exactly sure, but I could tell that probably wasn't a good answer. I looked back at her, and motioned with my hand to not say anything else like that again.

My suspicions were confirmed when I heard her respond to what she said. "He's...He's not my dad..." I saw her eyes getting a little watery.

I went down on one knee in front of her. "I'm sorry. We didn't know. But she's right, he's doing what he should."

"Not that..." She said. "He gets so angry, and then he...he loses judgement. There's no telling what he might do when he gets angry."

I looked at her. I obviously struck a sensitive subject so I tried to change it.

"So...Clementine...uh, just a question. How old are you?" I asked her.

"11, I think. Maybe older."

I was amazed that someone that young could do anything she could. I Looked at Erin and even she was caught off guard by that.

"11? And you can handle getting shot like that?" I asked, eager to find out more.

She nodded. "It gets hard to keep track of time."

I knew the feeling. "I gotta agree with you. So...you don't have to answer this, I know it may be a personal matter here, but has it always been just you two?"

She shook her head, but didn't say anything.

"That's fine. We'll talk about it some other time." I told her. "I'm sorry I brought it up."

Clementine looked up slightly, and I saw she had a few tears running down her cheek.

"Aw, I'm sorry Clementine. I put my hand out for her to hold on to, but as I expected, she shook her head.

I pulled my hand back. I tapped her knee real quick, and mouthed "_I'll be here if you need me"_ to her.

I walked over to Erin, who was sitting on the other bed in the room.

"You don't have to stay here, Erin. You can go home if you want." I said to her.

"Why? You don't want me here?" She said back to me.

"You know that's not what I meant. I just didn't know if you wanted to be here or not. That's all. You know I'd love for you to be here. It's a shame I didn't get to know you more before this started." I responded.

She smiled and hugged me. "Stop it, Shane." She laughed. "I get it, you don't have to try to sugar coat it. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? We'll show them around then."

I grinned at her, and hugged her back too. "Thanks. I meant what I said, though, Erin. I know you're Pat's daughter, but really, I feel like I never really got to know you. I've only seen you a few times before this started, you know. Of course, back then, things were different."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Shane." She said, getting up. "You better work on that sweet talk of yours though." She joked.

When she left, I saw Clementine smiling, but at the same time I could tell she was sad.

"What's the matter Clementine? Everything alright?" I said, going back over to her.

"It's nothing...you two just...reminded me of some people I used to know." She said, still wearing the bittersweet smile.

"Oh, we're not...I mean..." I said, embarrassed. She's a good friend, that's all..." My face felt like it was burning again.

I went and sat down on the chair, and relaxed.

"She's right, you know. You need to work on that." She said to me, laughing a little.

I was happy she didn't appear to be too upset with me for what I did.

"You know, for someone who just found out I almost killed them, you sure are okay with it." I said moving the chair a little closer.

Her eyes were tearing up again. "It's um, just something I learned from someone a...a long time ago." She started crying a little.

"I'm sorry." I felt bad, causing all of this. She wasn't bawling her eyes out, but I could hear her sniffle once in a while. "Clementine, are you okay? I'm sorry that I brought something like this up."

She laid down, and rolled over to put her back to me. It got pretty cold at night, and while I was dressed minimally, she wasn't. I took off my jacket and offered it to her.

"Here. It's gonna get a lot colder, later on." I said, hoping she'd turn around. No response, but I saw her look over her shoulder for a second.

"_I feel weird doing this. It seems like I'm rushing into trying to be her friend, but I feel so bad._" I thought. I walked over and asked her again.

"Clementine? Are you...are you okay?"

She nods, but is still crying. I put the jacket over her, and take a few steps back.

"I can tell you need time to yourself, I'll leave you be." I said, about to walk out the door.

"Stay...please?" I could tell she didn't want me to stay because she liked me, but because she didn't feel safe.

"Alright. I'll stay here. Get some rest, you need it the most." With that said, I walked back over to the chair. I pulled the other chair over and used it as a leg rest. I was still in arm's reach of the bed, in case anything were to go wrong.


	12. Chapter 12

I woke up at 4:15 that morning, unable to sleep any longer than that. I looked over at the bed next to the chair I was in, and Clementine was still asleep.

"No need to wake her up yet." I thought to myself. "She could still use the rest."

I stood up and stretched. I didn't know exactly what I should do yet, so I went outside to watch the sunrise. I sat down up against the tent out in what used to be the auto section's parking lot. It wasn't much of a wall, come to think of it, but it did the job quite well. The gate on this section was one of our less sturdy ones. Nothing we could really do, we had to save our materials for the major repairs. It was quiet, and peaceful. Times like these, that didn't happen often at all.

"Hey, Shane." Someone said behind me. "You doing any better?"

I turned to see Matt standing in the garage doorway. "I've been fine. It's Clementine you should worry about."

He walked over and sat down next to me. "You and your guilt, man. Let it go, bro. You didn't do it on purpose, man."

I looked at him and rolled my eyes. "Shut it, Matt," I laughed. "You on the tower for today?"

"7 to 3. I'm guessing you're gonna be sitting on your ass again today?" He joked.

"Ah, screw you." I said to him, grinning. "I'm showing her and Kenny around the camp with Erin when it's time to start work."

He looked at me and nodded. "Listen, you be careful with that Kenny guy. Like you said he may have saved your life but he seems a bit...off...if you know what I'm saying."

"I know." I looked down at my watch, and saw it was almost time for everyone to wake up. "No sunrise today, I guess."

Matt chuckled. "See ya around. You gonna be on the tower with me tomorrow?" he started to get up and walk away.

I sighed. "Dunno. Eventually I may but for now, they're probably gonna want me to help the new arrivals."

He shrugged. "No problem, Shane. Play it safe, I'll see you later."

With that said, he walked away. My watch alarm went off, not too long after.

"Well, 5:30, time to get going..." I said to nobody in particular. I stood up, and went back into the tent.

I walked in the curtain door, and saw Clementine still sleeping. She looked so peaceful and relaxed, but I had to wake her up. I went over to her and, trying to prolong waking her up so she could sleep a little longer, slowly tapped her on the shoulder.

"Clementine," I said softly. "It's time to wake up."

Still asleep. I sighed, and shook her a little more.

"Clementine." I said, louder now.

She woke up, and spun around to face me.

"Sorry, kiddo. Time to get up."

She sat up, and looked around dazed. "What...what time is it?" She then immediately said after, "Sorry. Nevermind."

"It's fine, actually." I lifted my arm to show her my watch. "It's 5:30."

Her eyes widened. "In the morning?"

"Yeah. We get up pretty early here. It's just a habit now, we used to have a huge problem with raids and hordes."

"Okay." she said while yawning.

"I'll let you wake up a little first. I'm right outside, when you're ready."

I walked outside, and saw Erin walking towards the tent.

"She up yet, Shane?" She asked, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Yep. She's just uh, getting ready." I said. "You know, Erin...about what I said..."

She waved her hand. "Not now, Shane. We've got stuff we have to take care of first."

Clementine walked out of the tent a moment later.

"You all ready, Clementine?" Erin asked.

She nodded. "Where are we going?"

"Well first," I answered, "We have to go meet Kenny by the gate. Then we can show you around. Come on. Follow us."

It wasn't a long walk, the gate was directly across the camp from the medical tent. We were at the front gate within five minutes, and Kenny was there waiting for us. I saw Pat say something to him, look at us and wave, and then walk back to his post.

"Okay, Kenny, sir, are you ready?" I asked him.

"Oh, I sure am." He said, sarcastically.

I shook my head. Clementine wasn't lying when she said she hated it when Kenny was like this, because I saw her scowl at him.

"Let's just get on with this." I said. I wasn't really in the mood to even argue with him.

We started on to the left of the gate, where the housing was located.

I pointed at the two rows of tents in front of us. "Alright, here's the housing. Not so much housing, but where we were able to set up tents to live in. It's uh, not much, but it gets the job done."

"Which one are we gonna stay in?" Clementine asked.

"Dunno." I responded, shrugging.

"We're gonna find out later, Clementine." Erin replied.

We walked past the carport door, which was open. It always was at this time of day, so people could get to the guard towers and garden.

"Be sure to get back inside before those doors close, you guys." Erin said.

"Yeah, we don't open them once they close until the next morning, so if you do, it's gonna be a long, cold night." I added.

We then arrived at the armory, to the left of the Carport.

"This is the armory. Normally Robert or myself will be in here, but while he's injured, Peter will be in charge." I explained.

I looked at Kenny and Clementine, and they both looked a tad bit stunned.

"That's...that's a lot of guns.." Kenny said.

"You'd be surprised how many guns you'd need, sir." Erin said. Even I was surprised at that, I never took her as the type to understand that fully.

"Besides," I started. "Most of them are...procured... from raiders who try to attack us. But anyway, let's continue."

We walked through the food court. Nothing much to be said about it, what you see is what it is.

"Food's surprisingly good, though." I said, hoping to lighten the mood. I could tell Kenny thought this was unnecessary, but that wasn't my problem.

Since they already saw the medical tent, we walked over to the office room.

"This is where camp meetings are held. Stuff like discussing plans in case of raids, shift management. Nothing interesting." Erin said.

Kenny looked in the door. Under normal circumstances, I would've stopped him, but honestly, there was nothing in there of importance at the moment. It was time to keep moving, and to continue the tour. We walked for a bit until we stopped at a door. I opened it, and we walked out.

"This is the greenhouse. Obviously where we grow our food, so nothing much to say." I said.

At this point, we had explored the entire camp. We walked back to the front gate. "Now, Kenny..." I said as I pulled out a notebook. "We have you on the tower for today. You're on tower two, with Mike. He's got a rifle for you up there already, so you don't have to head back to the armory. Someone'll come to get you when your shift is over. At that point, come find me in the armory. I should have found a housing arrangement for you by then."

"What? We just got here, and you're putting us to work already?" He asked me, aggravated.

"Kenny, sir, it's not that we do it to be mean or anything. It's just that we need as much help as we can get around here, and everyone who can tries to help as best they can." Erin said. Just in case he overreacted, I stepped forward to get closer to being in the middle of the two.

He shook his head and sighed. "Fine." He walked away, still shaking his head.

"As for you, Clementine, you're not on the shift list." I said to her.

"What do you mean? Don't I have to do something?" She asked, confused.

"Nope." Erin responded. "The younger kids around here, while few in numbers, don't have to work. We like to give them a chance to be kids, you know?"

My mom walked up at this point, with the baby in her arms.

"Hi mom." I said to her. To be honest, I didn't get to spend much time with her. She mostly took care of everyone in the housing section, and I only went there at night to sleep.

"Hey Shane!" She replied. "You mind if I borrow Clementine for a little bit? I'd like to introduce her to the other kids and if she wants to, I need her help with the baby here."

I looked to Clementine, and she nodded.

"Sure, I'd be happy to help." She said.

"Just, uh, give me a second mom, I need to tell her something."

I pulled Clementine aside, and talked to her.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"Um, fine, why do you ask?"

I raised my eyebrow. "You don't seem like the kind of person to act so...disinterested...in everything."

She shrugged.

"Alright, Clementine. I'll talk to you about this later. If you want, stop by the first watch tower when you're done with helping my mom."

"Maybe I will." Clementine said to me.

She walked back over to my mom, and they started back to the housing.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> **Sorry for the boring chapter here. Wasn't feeling well today, and didn't want to wait to write. I promise the next one will be better.**


	13. Notice

Hey guys and gals, due to my own error I see I forgot to upload two earlier chapters. I'm sorry about that! I'll leave this up for a little bit, maybe until another two or three chapters are uploaded. If you want to read these, they'll be uploaded soon and will now be chapters 4 and 5. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy!


	14. Important!

Hey everyone! If you're wondering why I haven't posted the next two chapters of the story, that's because I simply don't have the time at the moment. I'm sorry that I didn't let you know earlier but as I said I've been really busy. I will try to get them posted as soon as I can but for now, don't expect them until maybe the end of next week. Thanks for understanding, and sorry again.


	15. Update!

Well, as I have said, I placed the story on a temporary hiatus. Guess who's back and ready to write? Starting tomorrow, I will be releasing the chapters on the old schedule (M-W-F). However, re-reading chapter 13, I realize how much I dislike how it went. Due to this, I am going to re-write chapter 13 and release it as Monday's (11/17/2014) chapter. Thanks for staying tuned in for those that did, and I promise to keep writing new content for the story.


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